Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Sea Salted Caramels with a shot of Rum!

Seriously, there are SO MANY recipes out there on how to make Salted Caramels.
Some uses condensed milk while others use cream.
I decided to go with the condensed milk recipe! I have adapted this recipe from Bon Appetit.
This recipe caught my eye a while back, but I never gotten the chance to make it.
Honestly, I'm not really a Caramel kind of girl...I always find it too sweet and I hate that it sticks on my teeth when I eat them. So generally, I tend to not eat anything that has caramel.
This Salted Caramel made me think of caramels in a different way...
They are salty, and sweet at the same time...and of course with a light punch of Rum.
Originally this recipe uses Bourbon, as I do not have any, I decided to go with Rum.
If you don't want any alcohol in them, just replace it with Vanilla Extract.
It is really important to ensure that you have all your ingredients and tools ready! As we are dealing with sugar! There is really no time to wait, as the temperature rises so quickly!
Here is what you need:
(makes about 120 pieces - depending on the size that you've cut)
Nonstick vegetable oil spray      
2 cups sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
395g sweetened condensed milk - a whole can - I used Nestle
½ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons Rum (or use 1 tbsp of vanilla extract)
½ teaspoon salt
Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)
Here is what you need to do:
1) Coat an 8x8” baking pan with nonstick spray. First spray your pan, then line with parchment and spray again. Make sure to leave some parchment paper overhanging both sides - easier to pull it out later.

2) Bring sugar, corn syrup, and ¼ cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until mixture turns a deep amber color (it took me about 14 minutes).
3) Remove pan from heat and whisk in sweetened condensed milk and butter (pour in slowly, as mixture will bubble up) mix until smooth. Use the candy thermometer to measure temperature of the mixture in the pan and return it to the heat.

4) Cook, whisking constantly, until thermometer registers 115 Celsius.

5) Remove from heat and whisk in rum and salt. Pour into prepared pan; let cool.
6) Once it is warm to touch, sprinkle caramel with sea salt.
7) Cut into the sizes you want and wrap individually in parchment paper. 
Tips:
- Do not need to store it in the fridge
- I use a sawing method to cut the caramel so that it doesn't stick to the knife
- Ensure you have a parchment paper underneath to cut/place your salted caramel
- Store in cool area
- You can make this 2 weeks ahead!
Happy Caramel-ing! :)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Oven Express to the Rescue!

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to get my oven cleaned by Oven Express for free in exchange for a review.

My oven hasn't been cleaned for about 4 years or so now. I do the occasional wiping or picking up anything that has dropped or spilled in the oven - so that it doesn't burn when I'm using it.

I've never used any chemicals to clean it as I am afraid that the fumes or chemicals used may cause some sort of explosion! *excuse the blonde moment*.

I've been reading up on how to clean the oven, many have said that baking soda does the trick but of course I haven't gotten the chance to do it!

Thank god for Oven Express! Just in time, as we are also moving out of our current place.

We have been told that our oven isn't very dirty at all and is an easy job! I was slightly embarrassed with how dirty I thought our oven was...but we were shown photos of their previous work and OMG....ours isn't too dirty at all!

Chemicals that were used by Oven Express are all natural green products, so there is no harsh chemicals, biodegradable and definitely non-toxic.

My husband and I was impressed on how professional Oven Express is, they knew exactly what to do and they started off by dismantling the oven.

So here is what happened one Saturday afternoon!


Check out this short clip.


 


This service usually cost around $140 for oven cleaning. Check them out as they provide other cleaning services too in the kitchen!


It is so shiny you can see your reflection!  


 Thank you Susan from Oven Express for organizing the service!
5/65-69 STATION ST
MORTDALE 2223
Phone: 1800 325 773
Mobile: 0411 352 259
Email: info@ovenexpress.com.au

Happy Easter! :)

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Cheeeeeesecake!

Hands up if you love eating cheesecake?!
I LOVE eating cheesecakes - the baked ones!
It is one of the easiest cake to make.
Whenever I feel like making something, but don't want the hassle of a too complicated recipe, I make a cheesecake!
 
 
I have made so many different variation of a cheesecake!
Cookies and Cream
Nutella
Peanut Butter & Nutella
Blueberry
New York
Chocolate
Peanut Butter
 
My favourite pick would be the Cookies and Cream! Actually I pretty much like everything that's Cookies and Cream, the crunch of those Oreo cookies! YUM!
 
So here's how to make my version of a Baked Cheese Cake - Cookies and Cream
 
Here's what you need:
3/4 pack of Digestive Biscuits (crumbs!)
70g of butter (soften/melted - it doesn't really matter, as long as you can mix it properly with the crumbs)
250g Philladelphia Cheese Block - soften/Spreadable Tub)
1 Egg
1/2cup of Caster Sugar (depending what's going into your cheesecake - you may want to reduce it, unless you want your cheesecake to be on the sweeter side)
1tsp vanilla extract
1 packet of Oreo cookies
 
Here's what you need to do:
1) Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees - I add a container of water on the bottom rack - to give moisture when baking.
2) Blitz or smash those Digestive biscuits into sand like - add the butter and mix it until you get a wet sand consistency. Press it to the bottom of the pan! Keep in fridge until needed.
3) Stir/Mix the cream cheese until you get a nice smooth consistency with a wooden spoon, add the sugar - mix.
4) Mix in the egg until properly distributed. Add the vanilla in and mix.
5) Now it is time for the cookies - break it into pieces 1/4 pack - to mix into the batter.
6) Pour into the prepare pan that has been lined with the biscuit base. Crumble the rest of the Oreos and sprinkle on top of the batter.
7) Bake for about 20-25 minutes until it is soft to touch.
8) Let it cool before keeping it in the fridge - chill for at least 2 hours before eating!

 
Say CHEEESE!! :)
 

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Juicy Watermelon Cake Recipe

So it has been a while since I last posted up a recipe!

pic by mastersathelete

I am so happy to share this one with you all! You may have heard/seen/tasted/made it before, but have you heard of a Watermelon cake!

Yes, the cake = watermelon! It is so fresh and juicy! Such a clever idea. The person who first came up with the idea, is a GENIUS!


So here is my take on it.

Get yourself a HUGE watermelon or Medium size one, I guess it depends how big you want your cake to be. I got myself a GIANT one, I should have taken a picture holding it, but I forgot and I wouldn't be able to even carry it STILL enough to take a clear picture.

The hardest part for me was shaping the watermelon, thank godness, my husband helped me! I have such bad knife skills :)

Here is what you need:
Watermelon
Strawberries - you can use other fruits/anything else 
Blueberries - you can use other fruits/anything else
Almond Flakes - 1 packet of 200g or so
Thickened Cream - 300ml
Icing Sugar - 15g

Here is what you need to do:
1) Roast your almonds on a dry pan over the stove, you know it is ready when the oil starts coming out of the nuts and you can smell the nuttiness. Leave it to cool completely!

2) Cut your watermelon -  remove all the outer layer and shape it into the shape you want it to be.

3) Whip up your cream with 15g of icing sugar until firm peak - so that it holds its shape.

4) It is time to ice your watermelon, cover it completely.

5) Start decorating!
6) Keep in the fridge until it is time to eat, do not leave it out for more than 5-10 minutes as the icing will start to melt
7) Do not make it more than 1 day ahead, otherwise, the watermelon juice will start going all over!

Happy Watermelon-ing! :)

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Cake, Bake and Sweets Show - Review!



Thanks to National Media, my husband and I was invited to attend the Cake, Bake and Sweets Show!

 When I first got the email from KJ, I was like OF COURSE I would LOVE to attend! Seriously, a show all about baking? I have never been or seen a show just on cake, bake and sweets, there are shows on food but nothing like this.

There were so many different types of stalls, we were overwhelmed with the number of suppliers, shops that existed in Sydney. Where did they all come from? It was really good to see them all at the show. 



We saw stalls that were selling cake supplies, ingredients, tools, equipment, packaging, food, books, classes, showcases and so many more.


We also saw some shows, there was one with Zumbo and the other one was teaching us how to make Cronuts (if you do not know what is a Cronuts, it looks like a donut but with layers of a croissant), we saw people in classes, learning sugar craft.


We bought some Voodoo Rocky Road - have you tried them? If you haven't, you're totally missing out. Of course we got to try them first before choosing our flavours.


We ate ice cream, we had chocolates, we ate the "OMG" Salted Oatmeal & White Chocolate cookie from Frozen Dough Co. The flavour was just right, wasn't too sweet or salty, and the texture was OUT OF THIS WORLD! I love Soft Chewy cookies, and it really HIT the SPOT!


We took a photo with MKR contestant - Carly & Tresne, these girls were so nice and friendly. Love them on the show!


We can't wait to check out next year's show if there's going to be one! Definitely look forward to more food stalls - pastries!

Thank you again Abbey and KJ from National Media for having us at the show!

WAIT, there's more! Look at all the cakes on showcase.



    
        














Have a great weekend! :)